Content note: This post contains discussions of transphobia.
The beauty world has lovingly wrapped its arms around Nikkie de Jager, aka Nikkie Tutorials, after she came out as transgender. Well, most of the beauty world. Eagle-eyed Redditors on r/BeautyGuruChatter noticed that Too Faced's CEO Jerrod Blandino's sister changed her Instagram profile to reference de Jager's coming out. It wasn't subtle and it was incredibly transphobic. Here are the receipts.
r/BeautyGuruChatter pointed out that Tea Spill had the first receipts on @makupprincess's transphobic comment.
Beauty YouTube watching account Tea Spill first noticed Blandino's sister's Instagram bio change after de Jager released her coming out video. Blandino's sister, who goes by the Instagram handle @makupprincess, changed her Instagram bio to the following: "Transgender huh? That's not the only thing she's been LYING about."
As a note, Revelist could not confirm Blandino's sister's name, so for the sake of this story, we are referring to her as @makupprincess.
@makupprincess's words feed into a dangerous stereotype about transgender individuals.
Transgender people face grim statistics when it comes to their safety. Transgender women, particularly transgender women of color, face an increased risk of violence due to pervasive transphobia in our culture. As part of that transphobia, transgender women are stereotyped as "sneaky" or "dishonest" about their gender, and "trick" heterosexual men by simply publicly existing within their gender identity. In this way, transphobes attempt to justify violence against trans women, with deadly consequences.
For trans people, coming out is a difficult choice. There are emotional and safety issues to consider. Even for de Jager, she explained that she only came out when she did because she was "blackmailed" into doing so.
The implications of @makupprincess's words feed into a very ugly — and unsafe — narrative about transgender people.
Her Instagram bio was changed, but is still really transphobic.
@makupprincess' Instagram bio was widely condemned. After facing backlash for her original transphobic bio, she set her Instagram account to private and wrote that she "loves" trans people, but that if "you came from a lying [drama channel] then who cares." Clearly, the implication here is that Nikkie Tutorials is a "lying drama channel."
There is some subtext for @makupprincess's comments. She could be referencing a years-old feud over an unsuccessful collaboration between de Jager and Too Faced. The product reviews were middling, and de Jager reportedly only received $50,000 in payment for the collaboration.
Still, it should be noted that, regardless of any controversy between de Jager and Too Faced, @makupprincess's comments are transphobic and are not OK under any circumstances.
De Jager's response to the Too Faced controversy was telling.
In October 2019, de Jager responded by explaining that she was "naive" when she accepted the low payment. She also intimated that Too Faced altered the product's formula after she had completed her design process, leading to negative reviews and low sales.
@makupprincess is also employed by Too Faced — or rather, she was employed.
In a statement from Too Faced and Blandino, the company has distanced themselves from @makupprincess's comments and terminated her employment. Blandino's sister was involved in an unknown employed capacity with the company.
Blandino, who is a member of the LGBTQ+ community, offered his support of de Jager's coming out story.
This is what @makupprincess's Instagram profile looks like now.
@makupprincess changed her Instagram profile for a third time. Now it reads: "Let's be clear, I love trans people & dislike anyone who lies to hurt others! Period!" It is unclear if she is still referencing de Jager as "anyone who lies to hurt others," but given the previous Instagram profile bios, it is certainly a possibility.
Revelist has attempted to reach out to @makupprincess for comment; however, her Instagram is private and she did not accept our request. We would love to speak with @makupprincess for comment, and this reporter can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @meaganrosae.
These stories are based on posts found on Reddit. Reddit is a user-generated social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website where registered members submit content to the site and can up- or down-vote the content. The accuracy and authenticity of each story cannot be confirmed by our staff.
